Necessary Evil

Because Avery had a list of jobs to do the next day he had chosen to go to the cooler before he had to feed the mutated. In this way, he could place the packages in the fridge to slowly thaw and save some time. It had also given him more time in case he had not been able to force himself to enter the cooler.

Back in the house, Avery put the packages on a plate and placed them in the fridge. He could not help but think that to an outsider what he was doing was completely normal. It was only when you realized that the meat that was wrapped up was human and not animal that the whole thing took on a new meaning.

Avery closed the door and turned away; his heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he caught sight of Jordan standing to the side. He had not heard anything.

"I-I wasn't expecting anyone."

Jordan waved his hand, letting Avery know that it was all good. Jordan picked up the notepad sitting to the side and wrote a note.

'Good idea.'

Jordan pointed toward the refrigerator when he showed the note. Avery glanced back for a moment then at the note.

"I wasn't sure if I could do it, or not."

Jordan wrote another note and smiled when he showed it to Avery. Avery found himself returning the smile and nodding when he saw the note.

'Wanna watch with me?'

Jordan had found someone willing to watch his shows with and Avery found a small bit of peace. Soren had stayed away while they were watching before. It had been the only time that Avery did not have something to do and was without Soren.

It was nice for Jordan to have someone to hangout with. The past eight years while Soren had been surviving in the outside world Jordan had been isolated to the dungeon.

It was well after dark. Avery and Jordan were in the middle of their fourth episode of the evening when Avery felt a hand on the back of his neck. His first response was to hold his breath and sit as still as possible. He did not need to guess who it was, only one person would touch him like that.

"I think it's a good idea to go to bed at a decent hour. Our day tomorrow starts early."

Jordan leaned forward and paused the video.

~I'll leave it paused until he can finish it.~

Soren had the urge to roll his eyes, he did not understand how people could sit and watch tv or movies. He would rather be doing something. The only times that he had sat and watched had been with Jordan.

"Come. Jordan says that he won't finish the show until you can."

Soren removed his hand from the back of Avery's neck and started to make his way to the stairs. Avery stood up quickly and followed after.

"Strip," was the first thing that Soren said as he closed the bedroom door.

Avery complied without arguing, dropping his clothes to the side. Soren spoke again as Avery was pulling the blanket back to get into bed.

"Tell me, if I told you to kill someone, would you?"

"Yes."

Avery looked up as he sat down and pulled the blanket up. Soren stared at Avery from the door.

"If I told you to kill your former teammates, or a human, would you?"

Avery looked away, staring at his hands for a long time before looking back up at Soren.

"If you tell me to do it, I will do it."

Soren smiled, pleased, then turned away. He turned off the lights and stripped before laying down.

"Get some rest."

Avery felt lost as Soren turned on his side and proceeded to sleep. It took Avery longer to fall asleep, a part of him was afraid that Soren was just messing with him. Eventually he did fall asleep.

*******

The next morning when Avery stepped out of the master bathroom and into the bedroom Soren threw something at him. It was not thrown hard and Avery was easily able to catch it. When he saw what it was he looked up at Soren, eyebrows slightly raised.

"When I tell you to shoot, go straight for a head shot unless I say otherwise."

Soren walked up to Avery and placed a hand on his chest.

"There is only one bullet in it right now. You continue to do well and I'll give you more."

Then Soren left to take his turn in the bathroom.

Avery looked down at the holster, belt and gun that Soren had thrown him. He felt like he was looking at an old friend and took a moment to look over the gun. Avery placed the belt and holster on the bed then went through his checklist of the gun. He checked the clip and chamber, then took it apart and put it back together. He did not have the tools he needed to clean it. It was something he could ask for later.

When Avery was satisfied with the gun he put on the belt, adjusted the holster then secured the straps on his leg. The holster was strapped to his right leg to work with the fact that he was right handed. He could easily reach down, release the strap and pull the gun out. It was a movement he had done a hundred times before.

Avery went through the motions of unsnapping the holster and drawing his gun, raising it up and supporting it with his left hand. Each time he did this he felt a familiar calmness come over it. This had been what he was the best at.

"According to Cruz's memories you are one of the best snipers."

Avery returned his gun to the holster and secured it before turning to face Soren. He did not want it to appear as if he were trying to shoot Soren. Avery had seen how fast Soren could move and knew that he would be dead before he could get a shot off.

"I don't know if I'm that good with a gun."

Soren had come out of the shower the same way he went in; naked. The first thing he did was go to his dresser and pull out clothes then started to get dressed.

"Since you're the only one here, aside from maybe Ethan, who can shoot a gun just being able to hit something is good enough.

"I have faith that you're skilled enough to take a mutated out."

When Soren was dressed they went downstairs, heading straight for the dungeon. Jordan was waiting for them in the lab. Jordan glanced at his wrist then raised an eyebrow.

"Is it really considered late when I'm the boss?"

~Late is late. It sets a bad example when the boss is late.~

Soren flipped Jordan off and sat down. He pointed toward Avery and looked at Jordan.

"Avery will be assisting you. I walked him through the process yesterday."

~That doesn't mean he's able to do the work. It took a couple days for me to learn from the doctor.~

"Avery, quick test; name all the items on the tray and explain the process from beginning to end."

Avery nodded and walked up to the tray. Jordan watched Avery point and name everything on the tray.

"Needle, tube holder, vacutainer tube…"

After correctly identifying everything on the tray Avery started giving a detailed step-by-step. Jordan raised his hand to stop Avery and motioned for him to follow. They went to the sink near the door and washed their hands, then put on gloves.

Returning to Soren, Jordan grabbed the tourniquet and tied it on Soren's left arm. Soren's left arm was resting on the arm of the chair and laid straight. Jordan cleaned the area after a quick vein check then took the tube holder and carefully pressed the needle into the vein.

Jordan held out his right hand, his left holding the needle in place. Avery handed him a vacutainer tube and stood ready to switch out. At some point it moved from a normal blood drawing session to almost a marathon of filling tubes.

Jordan was cleaning up, and Avery was taking the tubes to the refrigerator, when Soren's phone went off. Soren pulled the phone out and looked at the alert. His eyes narrowed and lips pursed.

"Avery, go wake up Fry and Ethan and have them come join us." Soren looked up, "There is a tornado warning in effect for the next half hour."

"Yes, sir."

Avery closed the refrigerator and took off his gloves then rushed out. Jordan watched Avery leave, turning to finish his clean up once Avery was out of sight.

~I like him.~

Soren chuckled, "You just like him because he's the only one willing to watch your shows."

Jordan took the tourniquet he had and used it like a rubber band to hit Soren. That got him a dirty look as Soren rubbed his arm.

~You're just jealous because he'd rather hideout with me than be around you.~

"Yeah, I may have gone a little too far. But, it's better that way than to hold his hand through the whole thing. My plans for him make all of this necessary."